Hi Kristen, 

According to my results I am pregnant...my beta was over a 1000 which they are saying is a strong pregnancy at this point! I go back Thursday to see if my number doubled. Don't know how to add smile emojis on here ...remaining cautiously optimistic....and boy the shots are getting worse I currently have a lump from a swollen injection spot from last night and my back is severely hurting from my swollen hip/butt muscle ! 

I'm so sorry you've been on such a long journey. Wish someone told me at 17 when I went through surgery that I would have problems conceiving later in life! Out of curiosity why did you do ivf with hydrosalpinxs? My RE would not proceed with any fertility treatment until mine was surgically removed. I too have had several surgeries and thought it was risky but they said it was risky to not remove it. And I advised with multiple physicians at different practices on the issue. When my right tube was removed they said it was the largest hydro they had ever seen and in the process were able to remove a lot of adhesions that may have been wreaking havoc ! My left tube is also dialated but not completely blocked so I'm at higher risk for ectopic there . Anyway every situation is different and my hydro was very large I think that was the main concern for my problems. 

Anyway thanks for sharing and stay busy this 2ww it can drive you bananas! Wishing you good luck and a positive result ! 

Arpi 

Hi YogiJano,

I had a transfer on June 22nd as well! Mine was frozen from an IVF cycle in April. We did a freeze all cycle due to the the risk of OHSS. This was our first transfer and it was successful (so far). Beta was 356 on July 4th, after being only 16 on June 30th.

I also did 3 IUIs prior to IVF and then were all negative. I have also had many surgeries and issues with scar tissue, but they haven't made a direct link between that and my infertility. Without actually looking inside they can't say for sure if there is scar tissue.

We are also cautiously optimistic at this point and have an ultrasound scheduled for July 22nd. It's going to be a long couple weeks. I'm not finding the progesterone shots quite so bad. I'm doing 1mL every day now, and I'm just starting to get a bit of pain on my left side. I am however starting to get some nausea, since it's pretty early I'm sure this will get worse.

Good luck with your second beta!

Hi chantalworld ! 

Thanks for sharing .. I go in tomorrow for my 2nd beta . Hoping its doubled ! Then I have an ultrasound next week for them to locate the gestational sac if my number did double . 

Sorry your feeling nauseated but I guess that's a good sign! I haven't been too nauseated mostly just pain from the injections in my behind and super super exhausted all the time. Good luck and try to stay busy this stuff can make you go nuts. July 22nd will come sooner than you think! 

-Arpi 

Hi all- I'm currently about 9 weeks along after our first IVF attempt. Back in Feb, we found out my tubes had moved away from my ovaries during/after my surgeries (12+ years ago) but luckily there was no scar tissue in either of them. We decided pretty soon after that to move to IVF since it seemed pretty unlikely that an egg would ever get to my tubes on its own.

I have my first appointment with a regular OB this week, so I'm anxious to get to that and make sure everything's still going well. My fertility doc let me switch to progesterone gel (crinone) at around 4 weeks, but still a month and a half later I can feel the knots in my butt where I had all the injections. Hopefully those continue to break up over time. I'll get to go off the hormones completely after this Wednesday, so I'm looking forward to that. 

Hi susbo 

congrats ! I'm 7 weeks now still doing the dreaded shots ...but at least it's worth it.  I'm leaving for vacation next week and will be taking the needles on the plane with me lol a bit nervous to get through TSA . Maybe after this pregnancy your tubes will move back into place ... Who knows. Good luck! 

Meanwhile I have had pouchitis the entire pregnancy so far and augmentin ( the only drug I'm allowed pregnant) sucks . So add pouchitis fatigue to pregnancy fatigue and I'm pretty lethargic searching for the energy I lack. 

Just wanted to chime in for all you ladies going through IVF.  My TTC journey after J-pouch at 16 started with finding out that i had tubes blocked and hydrosapalinx, getting essure placed before starting IVF, and 9! embryo transfers.  We did 3 fresh and 6 frozen in between.  So very many shots, hormones, chemical pregnancies, and a miscarriage.  We had pretty much given up all hope, but had already paid for the 3 fresh IVFs and all associated frozen transfers.   After our 3rd fresh transfer (on a cycle where my progesterone climbed too high and they tried to convince me to freeze all my embryos) I transferred a single embryo and he is now my 11 month old son!!   IVF is so very draining, and I may have a little PTSD right now, but I just wanted to encourage you if you are in the trenches going through this, don't give up, it is possible, even when it seems impossible!!!

Also I had a relatively uneventful pregnancy, but interestingly baby stayed on the left side of my abdomen the entire pregnancy (I have a lot more scar tissue on the right side) and I spontaneously went into labor early at 35 weeks.  I was planning a c-section due to previous surgery, but everything went so quickly that I ended up with a vaginal delivery.  Luckily, my son was a fighter and did great for 35 weeks-came home with me and everything, and other than some reoccuring pesky hemmhoroids my pouch seems no worse for the wear. 

Starting my injections early next week. Nervous but excited because we were supposed to start months ago. Any advice? 

Good luck and congratulations on starting!! Definitely ice the area beforehand, and I found that the best thing for me to do afterwards was walk around/be as active as possible. Some people say you should sit with a heating pad after, but that made me more sore later on. Either way, they're nothing compared to what we've already been through and before you know it, you'll be done! I did mine 5 months ago now, and it already feels like a lifetime ago. (14 weeks today :-))

Keep us updated and I'm happy to try to answer any questions you have along the way!

Good luck ... For intramuscular injections I suggest asking a nurse to mark the areas on your hip with a marker because it is less painful when you get it right. And yes ice before and it totally helps the bigger the needle the longer you should ice . Also I had heard horror stories of side effects of medications but I had a pleasant experience . The main side effect I had was fatigue And decreased appetite so don't believe what others may say.   I'm going to be finishing my last injections this week ... Only 2 more! It's been 2.5 months and I'm now 11 weeks. 

Little Greeny, the IVF injections are really simple. I've been doing Humira for years so I was already used to the subcutaneous injections. I didn't find a need to ice the spot before or do anything to it afterwards. There was the occasional sting but nothing that even came close to the humira sting. After the transfer you'll probably have the intramuscular ones. To be honest I didn't find those that bad either. Sometimes I could feel a bit of a knot and the shot hurt a few times but it was better than I expected. Everyone is going to react differently though. Good luck!!

Beth - Thanks for your story. I'm really hoping for an uneventful pregnancy but I'm terrified of going into spontaneous labour!

Hope everyone else is doing well. I am also 11 weeks, although the ultrasound puts me at 11w4d. I've had my fair share or morning sickness so far but other than some constipation my pouch seems to be holding up pretty good!

Hi Ladies! How are your pregnancies going? I had IVF in July and we have 2 normal five day  frozen blastocysts ready to be transferred.  A month ago, I had the Essure procedure to fully block my tubes since I have dual hydrosalpinx. I'm anxiously waiting 3 cycles before I can have my transfer. Hearing your success stories is really encouraging! What did your transfer protocol look like? I've read  online that some women with autoimmune  disorders take prednisone the first couple of weeks so the body doesn't "attack" the embryo. Did anyone do that or was it a normal protocol? 

Congrats on your pregnancies! I'm hoping my transfer will be successful and I can join the pregnancy club soon! 

Hey! Congrats on your beautiful blasts and good luck with your FET. I'm very newly pregnant (5 weeks 2 days) after transferring a 5 day blast. We didn't do anything special as an immune protocol but I did accupuncture and meditation to keep my stress levels down. I wish you a lot of success !

Hi for my transfer it was required for me to be on antibiotics I happened to be on augmentin for pouchitis at the time so that worked. But normally they prescribe doxycycline if you aren't on an antibiotic. Currently 17 weeks after my fresh 5 day blast transfer .... it's amazing to look back it was all so worth it and happyily pregnant now! Good luck ! 

I was on prednisone as part of my protocol. I started it 2 days before my transfer and tapered off at 6 weeks. I'm now 17 weeks pregnant. I was also on Claritin and Pepcid AC for the first 12 weeks as part of the protocol. I had a lot of allergies while on the fertility meds so it was also to help with that. 

So far everything has been going well. I've had a lot of the normal pregnancy symptoms, so much morning sickness, but no real issues due to the pouch. The only thing I've noticed is that I tend to go to the washroom more often. I was told that as the baby grew this would probably increase. 

I know the waiting can be hard but good luck with your transfer! 

Thank you for the updates! It's so encouraging to hear success stories. Sounds like everyone's protocol was slightly different and I'll need to work with my doctor and choose the best one for me. Although, I'll probably mention the immune protocol to see if that's appropriate for me. I'm hoping to transfer sometime in December!  

Hang in there! The waiting is tough, but you're sooo close!!

My transfer protocol was normal, and I'm now 20 weeks along! Starting to get some back pain, but overall it's been a great pregnancy so far. I've talked to several doctors about delivery options to try to figure out if I should try for a vaginal delivery or schedule a c-section. I've had a couple doctors recommend a c-section to avoid a 3rd degree tear, which could damage the pouch, but my current OB thinks that it would be best to avoid c-section because he's concerned that more abdominal surgery would impact the pouch, so now I'm a bit confused. Have any of you all had these discussions with your doctors yet?

Thanks Susbo! Obviously I'm not pregnant yet, but I've met with a high risk OB and she recommends a c-section for me. I've had several surgeries to repair a fistula and with the jpouch she thinks that's the best option. I asked if they could go through my previous incision (which runs vertically) but she said there might be too much scar tissue and she wants to go low to avoid damaging the pouch. So I'll end up with another scar that runs horizontally near my Bikini line. She did say that I could have my colorectal surgeon present during the c-section, but didn't think it was really necessary to have him there. When I get to that point I'll probably decide to have him there "just in case". 

Hi susbo 

i am in the same boat 17 weeks along and have had conflicting advice from everyone on delivery plans.  I had 2 doctors suggest vaginal and 2 doctors suggest c section . So I'm tied ... I was presented with the risks with both; my primary OB and my high risk consultant will continue the discussion I would prefer vaginal if I can . Though it was interesting my GI specialist at first said c section was the safest option for jpouchers but just recently has since said there has been more research that states vaginal might be safer or a better option and deferred to my OB on the ultimate decision. So totally confused. I've had 6 total surgeries so a bit nervous all together would like to avoid surgery but also would prefer to keep my pouch in good health. 

I'm having a csection for sure. I have a rectal vaginal fistula so my OB said vaginal wasn't an option. She did say that she tries to encourage jpouchers to have a vaginal birth if they are comfortable with it, but there are certain ways to do things that help prevent damage to the pouch. She didn't go into detail because I'm not delivering vaginally but she has a lot of experience with jpouchers. 

Good luck with your decisions. I was pretty set on a csection before I saw the OB but if it wasn't for the fistula I would also be having to make that tough decision.